Unnamed, Unidentified

by Summaiya Noor Ali


Found in a shady filthy, stinky alley of Dallas
Was a girl losing consciousness, bleeding to death
A while ago, she had closed her eyes and let go, eight storeys down she flew
Her father always chose the highest room , that cheap money could buy
He broke her in every way imaginable, because he could, he knew she’d try to escape someday
So he made her believe of a world, where everything was fair,
No one would ever come save her, because no one cared
No one would hear her screams, no one would bother
No one knew she existed, and he planned to keep it that way,
So they kept moving from place to place, hoping and succeeding in keeping the questions at bay
One odd night, she heard him talking
He talked about getting rid of her, was negotiating a price
Enough to buy him his rum and whiskey, enough to let him buy his leisure
Finally, when they went out for a drink, she sneaked into the kitchen
She was hungry, she couldn’t know how long it had been since her last meal
She passed days and nights, swinging between oblivion
As she always fell into a deep sleep, whenever she had her short and painful encounters with her father
She found a knife, and sliced a piece, it was cheese that had turned green
Right when she was about to eat it, her hand on her way to her mouth
She heard the door creak open, enter the devil
She dropped her bite and the knife, was paralyzed with fear
The knife rattled, leading him to the kitchen
Her blood ran cold, when she saw his face
She always hoped he would be too drunk to stand,
Would not notice her, and stumble straight to bed
But she smelled the whiskey and the candy, and knew that her wish wasn’t to be
He said to her, what a naughty girl she had been,
She begged, telling him she hadn’t,
He wasn’t even listening, he couldn’t hear her,
She started moving backwards, a small baby step at a time
Trying hard to move, out of his reach
He lunged at her, grabbed her by her hair,
Told her she needed to be taught a lesson, she screamed, and kept screaming for help,
But no one was there, never a rescuer for her, she kept telling herself it would end,
Suddenly the knife, was in her hands, and she was stabbing away,
Hearing his shouts, she did not care, could not care, not for him,
She was weeping profusely, still she kept stabbing
She dropped the knife, and kept crying till the pain went away,
Her wails were down to sobs but she still couldn’t stop
Here was her chance, to run away, escape, she was so young she didn’t know where to go
She tried the door but it was locked, she moved in a kind of frenzy now,
Not looking at him, secretly fearing he might wake up any minute
She saw a white bird, swoop low and then kept on flying,
She saw the ray of light, coming from the window,
She knew where to go now, she smiled her smile
And looked back at him, she didn’t care for him and she never will.